- Aug 18, 2004
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I remember when I was in a senior American history class at college, I ask my professor about the religious position of Patrick Henry. My professor was not sure, but said she assumed that Henry was a deist.
My teacher was dead wrong, and she showed her bias. She, like so many others, had bought into the lie that the majority of our founders were not Christians. It is true that some very important men among the Founders rejected the Christian Faith, but they were in fact a minority. For the most part the deist kept their skepticism to themselves or revealed it to only close associates.
Patrick Henry is, as some of you know, my favourite among the American Founders. He was a devout Christian and he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
Patrick Henry was an Anglican (the official church then) like most of the Virginia gentry, but he strongly supported religious freedom. He was a favourite of the Scotch/Irish Presbyterians and the small but growing number of Baptist in the state.
Henry, who died the same year as Washington --1799, had this to say about this country he played such a vital role in establishing.
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
Patrick Henry, in my opinion, was the most farsighted of the Founders. He understood that American liberty was founded on, and was a product of, the Christian faith. He knew that even those that rejected the salvation freely offered in the Gospel benefited from the liberty produced by a Christian culture.
Civil liberty is not common in history. It is in fact rare. It was produced here because of mature Christianity. Such Christianity is now rare, and we are living on the cultural capital produced long before we were born. That capitol is being rapidly spent and (IMHO) when it goes so will our liberty. Lets work and pray for true, biblical revival, this alone will safeguard liberty for our children, our children's children until the end of time.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith
My teacher was dead wrong, and she showed her bias. She, like so many others, had bought into the lie that the majority of our founders were not Christians. It is true that some very important men among the Founders rejected the Christian Faith, but they were in fact a minority. For the most part the deist kept their skepticism to themselves or revealed it to only close associates.
Patrick Henry is, as some of you know, my favourite among the American Founders. He was a devout Christian and he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
Patrick Henry was an Anglican (the official church then) like most of the Virginia gentry, but he strongly supported religious freedom. He was a favourite of the Scotch/Irish Presbyterians and the small but growing number of Baptist in the state.
Henry, who died the same year as Washington --1799, had this to say about this country he played such a vital role in establishing.
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
Patrick Henry, in my opinion, was the most farsighted of the Founders. He understood that American liberty was founded on, and was a product of, the Christian faith. He knew that even those that rejected the salvation freely offered in the Gospel benefited from the liberty produced by a Christian culture.
Civil liberty is not common in history. It is in fact rare. It was produced here because of mature Christianity. Such Christianity is now rare, and we are living on the cultural capital produced long before we were born. That capitol is being rapidly spent and (IMHO) when it goes so will our liberty. Lets work and pray for true, biblical revival, this alone will safeguard liberty for our children, our children's children until the end of time.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith
Good thing we are on the same side today. (My dirty secret here is that my own Grandfather immigraged from England/ Scotland so I would have been on the side of England then too. 
